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Editor: Yaro Starak. Tuesday 22 October 2002.
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 Card Review: Worldgorger Dragon
Flying, trample
7/7
Expansion: Judgment.
David Chapman
Worldgorger Dragon
Question: Specifically, is it any good for normal play when you aren't using
animate dead to abuse the rules?
One word answer: No.
Three word answer: No, it *sucks*.
There's just too much instant bounce and removal. Obliterate
would be well costed for 6 mana if it only affected you? When
you take away the possibility of winning the game in one turn,
the drawback of the Worldgorger is just too large and too risky.
Rorix Bladewing is a strictly better card for the price, and I doubt
*he* will see much play in Constructed; the Obliterate-for-one
Dragon has no chance.
Value: depends on whether the store is out of toilet paper.
David
As this has rotated out of the current set I won't be
discussing it's use in limited but let me just say it
was a beating.
There used to be a great combo where you could
re-animate the dragon from the graveyard on the second
turn so you could generate infinite mana and use a
Stroke of Genius to wipe your opponent out of cards.
Unfortunately (or fortunately for a lot of players)
this can't be done any more so is Worldgorger Dragon
any good?
In one word. No. Red has traditionally had pretty bad
combo cards unless you count Fireblast and Fork a
combo. There does seem to be some synergy between the
dragon and Balthor but surely you would want to bring
back in 3 Laquatus Champions (via a Buried Alive of
course!) to finish your opponent off.
I'm sorry to say but this dragon has had it's day - $3
Until next time,
Dan
So the task is to determine if Worldgorger Dragon is any good in a
non-Worldgorger Dragon Deck deck....I don't like the reptile's chances.
Limited:
Because there are traditionally a lot less instant answers and other things
that can totally screw you over in Limited, he is a lot better here than in
Constructed. Of course, Odyssey is no longer used in Limited so...it's a
bit late to know this anyway
Constructed:
I'm sorry, but WD has really had his day with the Animate Dead combo.
Against a control deck he's obviously not worth it because he'll get
poleaxed either at instant speed and you'll really get wrecked or even at
sorcery speed in which case you've wasted your six mana for about 2 of
theirs. Not a good deal. If you're playing against an agro deck then you
spend your six mana to get a 7/7 flier whilst presumably being, at this
stage, on not heaps of life and then proceeding to get your head beaten in
by all their guys on the table and all the lands that they also keep on the
table. I think I'd use Visara the Dreadful over that...
So maybe there is a very shaky combo deck with something like Goretusk
Firebeasts, Balthor Defiled, Buried Alive and Worldgorgers but its very
bad, I mean ridiculously bad and there are much better fun decks to play
that are actually decent as well
Value: Now that Animate is gone, $2!
Danesh
Jason Street
This is a fairly nifty card with a drawback that can be abused heavily, but
the question of using it outside a combo deck was troubling me.
First up, if you're playing Type 1 or 1.5 you have a really nifty option -
tap 1U more when you play it and cast Reality Ripple on it, phase out the
dragon and everything comes back right away. When the dragon phases in it is
"returning to play" not "coming in to play" (Specifically: Permanents
phasing in don't trigger any comes-into-play abilities) and you get to keep
your stuff. This also works with Shimmering Efreet if you time casting the
dragon right (when the efreet phases in a target creature phases out). A
similar way of using it is with Wormfang creatures, but of course they kill
your mana base as you use them, which slows you down. Lastly, drop a land
after casting the dragon, drop a land on your next turn and cast Teferi's
Veil - all your creatures phase out after attacking, which is particularly
handy for the Worldgorger Dragon as we will see....
What's the worst that can happen to your Worldgorger Dragon? Pacifism. You
really don't want a pacified dragon sitting there hiding all your
permanents. You will also cry when someone uses one of Control Magic,
Treachery, Binding Grasp, Confiscate, Persuasion, Dominate, etc.
So what's it good for? Well it can stop an opponenet from beating you up,
assuming you have some land saved to maintain the threat advantage. As a
finishing card it works only so long as you are sure to win with it - It's
no good playing it if you have 5 life and your opponent has 20 and the
capability to slap you stupid when you attack....
Player One: Swing for 7 with Worldgorger Dragon, turn.
So thats pretty bad, but you can deal with this sort of thing in the old
formats, right? Otherwise.... What are you doing there?
Theres other tricks too, but you have to be pretty clever to pull off
something like Zirilan of the Claw + Fervor + Lands + 4 Worldgorger Dragons
in the deck + Way to sacrifice a Worldgorger after you attack (You have 6
lands in play, so Worthy Cause works).
All in all I think it's a good card because it's powerful without being too
powerful. The drawback is considerable, but if you can get it off the table
in a hurry it's okay (Claws of Gix in a pinch). It makes you think about how
to use it, not just in deckbuilding but when you play, more so than he
automatic playing of other cards as soon as you can.
Price? Oh, $6. It's a nice card but it's tricky to use. But then again, the
challenge is worth it.
Jason
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Worldgorger Dragon (Rare)
Dan Turner
Danesh Jogia